Startrek
05-06-2020, 12:26 PM
When I first purchased the Apollo 11 eye piece just before Christmas last year a few members enquired about me providing a report after using the eye piece
Below is my review of the eye piece to date -
Televue Apollo 11 Commemorative eye piece review
With a 95% waxing moon passing the north meridian at good altitude I decided to use my Apollo 11 eye piece for only the third time this year and report on my experiences during lunar observations
Apollo 11 eye piece Specifications
Serial no 186
AFOV 85 degrees
Focal length 11mm
Eye relief 18mm
Field Stop 16.2mm
2” and 1.25” barrel
Length 138mm
Weight. 2” is 620gm and 1.25” is 526gm
Scope used
Skywatcher 12” f5 Goto dob
Focal length 1500mm
My eye condition
I wear glasses but choose to observe without glasses
Left eye - myopia
Right eye - myopia with astigmatism 1.5 diopter
Filter
Orion 2” variable polarising filter 1% to 40% transmission ( set to approx 30% )
Sky Conditions
Bortle 3
Clear no cloud present
Light westerly wind at 3 knots
Seeing average to good
Transparency good
Viewing comfort
With an eye relief of 18mm this eye piece was very comfortable to use. It has a large 30mm diameter of glass and a generous rubber eye guard ( 9mm depth) at the observing end
Bringing my eye to the eye piece and close to the rubber guard I experienced no kidney beaning or black outs
Optical Performance
Centering the 95% waxing moon in the eye piece, I could fit the whole planet just inside the AFOV
After fine focus I observed both off axis and on axis regions and experienced no field curvature or distortion
The colour and contrast across the field was uniform with little or no noticeable aberration
Moving across to different regions of the moon the views were sharp and consistent and as expected improved at the edges against the blackness of space where the profile of craters and mountains were accentuated by the backdrop
Summary
Having used Televue eye pieces namely Delites, Panoptic, Delos and Ethos for the past 4 years in various size scopes ranging from 6” to 12” you tend to expect a high level of performance from these quality eye pieces and the Apollo 11 commemorative eye piece is no different. It is a superb quality eye piece and definitely not a show piece for a cabinet. Although I’ve only used it on a limited number of objects , my recent lunar observations exceeded my expectations and I look forward to other planetary observations ( Jupiter and Saturn ) in the coming months.I would be most interested to see how this eye piece performs with a Powermate should conditions allow. Before finishing up for the night I popped my Delos 10mm eye piece in to gauge some comparisons with the Apollo 11 and although the Delos views were superb , I found the Apollo 11 refreshingly different and pleasing to the eye.The 85 degree AFOV gave the Apollo 11 eye piece a bit more “wow factor”
The above review is an individual observation based on one celestial object only and by no means comprehensive and maybe different from observer to observer
Comments welcome
Cheers
Below is my review of the eye piece to date -
Televue Apollo 11 Commemorative eye piece review
With a 95% waxing moon passing the north meridian at good altitude I decided to use my Apollo 11 eye piece for only the third time this year and report on my experiences during lunar observations
Apollo 11 eye piece Specifications
Serial no 186
AFOV 85 degrees
Focal length 11mm
Eye relief 18mm
Field Stop 16.2mm
2” and 1.25” barrel
Length 138mm
Weight. 2” is 620gm and 1.25” is 526gm
Scope used
Skywatcher 12” f5 Goto dob
Focal length 1500mm
My eye condition
I wear glasses but choose to observe without glasses
Left eye - myopia
Right eye - myopia with astigmatism 1.5 diopter
Filter
Orion 2” variable polarising filter 1% to 40% transmission ( set to approx 30% )
Sky Conditions
Bortle 3
Clear no cloud present
Light westerly wind at 3 knots
Seeing average to good
Transparency good
Viewing comfort
With an eye relief of 18mm this eye piece was very comfortable to use. It has a large 30mm diameter of glass and a generous rubber eye guard ( 9mm depth) at the observing end
Bringing my eye to the eye piece and close to the rubber guard I experienced no kidney beaning or black outs
Optical Performance
Centering the 95% waxing moon in the eye piece, I could fit the whole planet just inside the AFOV
After fine focus I observed both off axis and on axis regions and experienced no field curvature or distortion
The colour and contrast across the field was uniform with little or no noticeable aberration
Moving across to different regions of the moon the views were sharp and consistent and as expected improved at the edges against the blackness of space where the profile of craters and mountains were accentuated by the backdrop
Summary
Having used Televue eye pieces namely Delites, Panoptic, Delos and Ethos for the past 4 years in various size scopes ranging from 6” to 12” you tend to expect a high level of performance from these quality eye pieces and the Apollo 11 commemorative eye piece is no different. It is a superb quality eye piece and definitely not a show piece for a cabinet. Although I’ve only used it on a limited number of objects , my recent lunar observations exceeded my expectations and I look forward to other planetary observations ( Jupiter and Saturn ) in the coming months.I would be most interested to see how this eye piece performs with a Powermate should conditions allow. Before finishing up for the night I popped my Delos 10mm eye piece in to gauge some comparisons with the Apollo 11 and although the Delos views were superb , I found the Apollo 11 refreshingly different and pleasing to the eye.The 85 degree AFOV gave the Apollo 11 eye piece a bit more “wow factor”
The above review is an individual observation based on one celestial object only and by no means comprehensive and maybe different from observer to observer
Comments welcome
Cheers